What day is it again?

Hmmm...as far as I remember it is Wednesday night...I think! I am so mixed up this week! We are in Newcastle at the moment, and I think that Delanah and I are finally on schedule again! This is the first night in Australia that I am up past 7:45pm...woo-hoo!!! I am tired, but I am trying to get laundry done, and the dryer looked dodgy, so I washed some of the hotel towels and am running them through the dryer before I put our clothes in. Yes, folks, I said washer, dryer and hotel in the same sentence! We are staying in serviced apartments while we are here and I love it! We have a kitchen, dining area, desk, living room, huge bathroom and separate bedroom..oh, and don't forget the laundry room! Sadly, the laundry area is better than what I have at home! :) We have a high chair and pack and play for Delanah, so we're all set! I think she is more comfortable here as she was playing and having just a grand time today :) The closet doors in the bedroom are mirrors and boy did we have a fun time checking ourselves out after nap time today :) Okay, in all honestly, I have fun checking her out in the mirror but avoided looking at my reflection at all costs.

Our first day in Sydney was the longest day ever! We landed at 7am, got our rental car (took 20 minutes to install the car seat!), had a precarious drive to the hotel...and by the time we checked in it was only 9:30!!!! The driving has been interesting at best. Dave is getting used to driving again and has a tendency to sample life in the lane to the left while we are going. Pissed off a few cars on the drive to Newcastle and gave me more than a few heart attacks!!! I am not game to drive just yet :) We took a nice, long walk along a coastal path Monday afternoon. We were thinking we would be able to make it to Bondi Beach, but part of the path was under construction so off into the neighborhood we went. When we were directed back to the path we were faced with about 30+ stairs to reach it. We just weren't game to carry a baby and a stroller down the stairs, so back into the neighborhood we went :) It was really fun looking at all of the houses, there is some great architecture in that area.
With all of the moms and strollers I saw in the area, I knew there was a park nearby, and a few hundred feet in the opposite direction past our hotel, there was an awesome park full of little kids (there were no kids there above about 8 years old). We found an open swing and the gummy grins began. She was so interested in watching the other kids that I think she forgot about us for awhile there! We all ended up asleep by 6:30 that night :) Delanah woke at 11pm and then for the day at 3:30am...oye!!!! It was a rough morning with a lot of crying and resisting sleep. Dave was at the office for the morning and Delanah and I finally made it out of the room around 10 for me to go get some brekkie. We were only about 1/2 block from heaps of shops and made our way to a fruit smoothie shop where I got a passion fruit, banana, orange fruit crush (no dairy) and Delanah got a chunk of rock melon, aka cantaloupe.
What a mess we made in the room! A towel was laid down and Delanah was stripped down to her little g and I let her go to town on her banana and cantaloupe :) After the decimation of the fruit it was into the bathroom sink for a bit of a clean. Then she was dressed again and off we went to the beach...the only time she was quiet was when we were moving :) I ended up sitting on a low step and she was perched on my shoe digging her hands and feet into the sand. I had to be very diligent as she was quick in trying to get the sand into her mouth!
On our way back to the hotel we were stopped by an elderly woman who commented on how cute Delanah was. She was asking how old she was, if she was teething, if she was a happy baby. It was exactly what I needed. I was truly at my end, suffering jet lag myself and having to deal with a tired, crying baby all morning alone without my usual items to help...such a crib to put her in, a glider to walk her in, etc. I needed this reminder of the wonderful, beautiful little girl that I have, the reminder that she is normally quite a happy child, that this was just a blip on the radar so to speak. I love it when the Lord doesn't whisper his message, but hits you upside the head with it.